My latest project

Like I said- I'm trying to work on one a week. So- this week I worked on some Christmas presents. I can't reveal what I did, but let's just say I used lots of stuff I already have to make some cool things I hope people will like. You know- gift giving on a very tight, but creative budget. I'm about 60% finished with the project and don't plan on moving on until it's complete. Sorry- no pictures of this one!

Happy Birthday Reasa!!!

Our good friend Reasa lives across the big blue ocean and this was the only way I could think of to wish her a Happy Birthday! (yes I thought of e-mail, but the file is too big) Hope you have a great day. PS- don't watch the video if you don't want to hear an off tune but heart felt version of Happy Birthday!

Unemployment is scary....

So, I am not a big risk taker. I take risks, but they are calculated so some would say they are not risks at all. Well, Ian and I are getting ready to take a big risk, one neither of us chose. As of 8/31 he will be officially unemployed and we will be "living off the land." There are a lot of positives about this-

1. more quality time
2. time to fix some things up around the house
3. it's made us take a long, hard look at how we spend money
4. we've found out what we can live without (cable will be shut off on Thursday!)
5. we've found out what we can't live without- fresh fruits and veggies!!

But, this blog is more about how we got to this point and the path God brought us along. About 6 years ago we did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace study as a small group through our church. Because of this study and the structure of it we paid off all of our debt (except the house) in about 2.5 years. It felt awesome to pay off the final loan (my car) and be "debt free." The next step Dave recommends is saving 3-6 months of living expenses in an emergency fund. (sidebar- I know Christian’s who don’t agree with this approach because it makes you put your trust in your fund instead of God. Totally cool for them, we’ll all still see each other in heaven! We think of it this way: cars have seatbelts to help you in case of a crash- we wouldn’t not use our seatbelts and trust God to save us. He gave us the financial ability to have a fund- we did not stop giving to get that money, we did give up some things of the world that we wanted, that can’t be bad. OK- I’m off my soapbox) Anyway- it was going to take us about 3 years to get our fund and I was discouraged. I wanted it to happen faster- of course! We decided to set a halfway goal and celebrate when we got to that point so it would be mentally easier to tackle.

About 4 months into it, Ian called me from work and said, “I think I found our emergency fund money.” He explained that IBM was buying his company and they would have to pay us out on the Corio stock we owned. And… it was just the amount we had been working to save, the WHOLE amount! Emergency fund funded YES.

3 years after that, our church started a capital campaign to raise money to build a new youth building and children’s building. The goal was 20 million dollars. Our pastor, Don, kept encouraging us to sacrifice something significant to make this work. His motto was, “Not equal giving, but equal sacrifice.” Ian and I racked our brains for what we could give up that would feel like a sacrifice, and couldn’t come up with anything. We fasted and prayed about it and Ian told me what it was- half of our emergency fund- YIKES.

So, 2 years ago we gave up half of that fund and last weekend we had our first high school service in the new building. It is unbelievable. We had over 1000 students that first night- God is good. Over the past 2 years we decided to set aside a certain amount of bonuses and extra money to re-build the emergency fund. Even in tough economic times, Ian has received enough bonuses to put the fund back where it was 2 years ago. I see God in each and every piece of this, I hope you do to.

So, as we get ready to use our emergency fund (as unemployment is an emergency of sorts) we are very grateful for God honoring our sacrifice in so many ways. Our trust is in Him, though I’m anxious about what this next step looks like day-to-day. And, I would highly recommend Dave’s program. I can’t imagine being in the situation we are in today, without the financial plan we’ve had the past 6 years. Not to steal his title, but we do have a lot of financial peace because of God’s guidance in our choices over the past 6 years. So- get debt free!

The crinkle nose

Emery has a new favorite face- a crinkled nose with lots of air being blown out of it. It makes us all laugh which makes her do it more! Here are pictures of both Emery's crinkle nose and Amelia's crinkle nose when she was little :)



I love this picture because you can see E's blue, blue eyes!

And finally- Amelia's first day of preschool for this year. She is going 5 days a week which she's very excited about. Since about June 1st she's been asking me when summer break will be over so she can go back to school! She's a social bug.

Emery laughing

Ian is kissing Emery and it makes her giggle. Of course she was laughing A LOT more before I got out the camera.....

We're going to Disneyland!!!

I know- you're thinking "Ummmm... isn't Ian going to be unemployed soon?" Yes he is, and we are trying to balance being really responsible and taking advantage of some time off. So... we decided to go to Disneyland for a week. I am worried that we might regret going, but my wise friend Leanne pointed out that I might regret it in March if Ian doesn't have another job, but either way I won't regret it ten years from now when I think back on the trip and all of the memories we made as a family.

So we are taking off. Amelia and Emery have not been to the Happiest Place on Earth yet, so we thought it'd be a good way to spend quality time together and get out of the heat for awhile. Amelia is so excited she can't stand it and has been asking us, "when are we going? When, when when." So, in true "us" fashion, we made a countdown calendar. Each day she gets to put a foot on as we make our way to Disneyland. She loves counting the days and I love not having to explain to a four year old the time/space continum :) Here's a pic of A with her calendar.

Amelia the budding photographer

Amelia loves taking pictures. She does really well with both cameras, but I'm a little nervous about giving her our $600 Canon Rebel. She gets more time with the little HP camera we received for free when Ian went to an HP conference. Here are some of her latest works of art :)

My Projects

OK- I've set a new goal for myself. I'm going to work on one "project" at a time and commit to working on it at least once a week until it's finished. Hopefully that will give me some focus and I won't feel like I'm spinning my wheels because I'll actually complete something! Here's my latest project- it's almost finished. It's for my Grandpa and his wife Hazel. I had the privilege of going to their birthday party (90 and 89). I made this book with the Heritage Makers website and a template from Mindy Evans. I asked the families for quotes, letters, whatever to include in the book to celebrate them both. Let me know what you think. You can use this link to view the book on the Heritage Makers site, it's a little easier to read and you can see the quotes, etc.

http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&projectId=264e131c-0770-4eb4-9b8c-e34f421f875b&productId=5&projectSponsor=213158

Trying Video

I took this video after Emery's morning nap. Sometimes if she wakes up earlier than expected Amelia will go in and entertain her until I get her bottle ready. A loves to move E's mobile and give her toys from her toy bin. E loves to be greeted by her sister! She's getting so close to crawling and this is the first time I saw her try to sit up from the all fours position.

Time for a new bumper

Emery has been playing with her bumper for some time now. I think it provides lots of entertainment for her, but it also frustrates her. She has untied it several times and ripped it once in her quest to remove it, eat it, whatever she's trying to do.

This is how we found her this morning. I think it's time to get one of the breathable mesh bumpers that she can't untie and remove. I tried a nap without the bumper and that was a mess- pacifier thrown out of the crib on the floor which doesn't do a lot of good. So we'll invest in another bumper for now because she needs her paci to sleep.

Dateable Pizza?

I made pizza for dinner the other night. It's my attempt to feel like we eat out and to make a healthier version of something we all really like. So.... I made a chicken, mushroom and spinach pizza on whole wheat crust. I couldn't get over how good it looked. I must have commented one too many times on how good it looked because Ian said, "It does look really good. If I dated pizza that would definitely be a date-able pizza." My husband makes me laugh :) Check out the picture and decide for yourself if you would date it!!!

Fun times with cousins

My nieces are spending this week with us during the day because Lisa is back to work. The girls were playing a cute game yesterday. I was working in the kitchen and overheard, "Let's go to prom!" I looked over and saw this!

Jess was the "mom" and she was driving Macie and Amelia to prom. I'm still trying to figure out how they know about Prom- they seem to young!

I took this sweet picture yesterday as well. They were planning out a play to show me later, Jess is of course the director. Amelia follows every instruction and Macie just ends up laughing most the time!

Here are two of the same shot of Emery- this is how happy she wakes up everyday. It's a good lesson for me- she's excited to see her family, ready to face the day, and can't wait to see what's for breakfast! The one shot is a little off, but I love that you can see her blue blue eyes. The other shot is just a better overall picture. LOVE the dimples!

I'm sad...

Amelia is getting older and with that comes lower self-esteem (not gone yet though!). The other night I asked her to sing a song for my high school girls. Normally she would belt it out, well she was shy and self-conscious and would not sing it. Then we (Amelia, the high school girls and I) went swimming. Even in front of just girls my students did not want to get into their bathing suits and swim. I had to do a canon ball and act goofy and basically tell them they had to get into the pool, they finally joined me.

Being a girl is hard, finding yourself is hard. I just hope Amelia and Emery can figure out who they are and that God made them in a beautiful and unique way before the world damages them too much. I pray that they both have a healthy amount of confidence in who God made them to be. I know Ian and I are always looking for ways to show them that.

A big day for Emery

Wow- big day for the little one.

1. Getting her first teeth- the top 2 (not the bottom 2 like everyone says should happen- I was looking down there, then bam- she smiled and I see 2 big white bumps with teeth under them) Ian is already calling her buck tooth.
2. Sat up in the bath the whole time (don't worry I didn't leave her alone)
3. Figured out how to roll on the tile without banging her head (tucks her arm under her head and rolls- pretty smart!)
4. Major scooting backwards, rolling both directions and got up on all fours- she's going to crawl before I know it.

Well- there you have it. A baby well on her way to toddler-hood. Couldn't she space out the milestones a little more?